A pro golfer made a surprise appearance recently at Indian Creek Golf Club to the delight of the club's Junior Golf program.

On July 2, Bruce Vaughan, the 2008 winner of the Senior British Open, showed up to play golf with his uncle, Frank Vaughan of Fairbury.

When the pro golfer realized that he had arrived during the weekly junior golf program, he offered to do a demonstration for the kids, said Rob Duffy, the Junior Golf program director.

"It's not too often that a pro golfer shows up at Indian Creek, let alone offers to do a demonstration. To say the least we were thrilled and took him up on his generous offer. Mr. Vaughan did a 30-minute demonstration on swing technique, grip and showed us a few trick shots," Duffy enthused.

Following the demonstration, Vaughan stuck around for a group photograph and to sign autographs.

"It was a great day for Junior Golf!" Duffy exclaimed.

Indian Creek hosts a six-week Junior Golf program for children ages 8 to 13. The program is held weekly on Tuesday mornings beginning in June.

"We just finished the program today," Duffy said Tuesday. "We're still talking about that visit."

Duffy said Vaughan was just hoping to play a little golf with his uncle while he was in the area visiting family, but realized something else was happening when he arrived on the course.

"We have between 60 to 65 kids on the course every Tuesday morning and so he asked what was going on," Duffy said. "I recognized him immediately. Growing up in Fairbury with a passion for golf, you know that pro golfer Bruce Vaughan has family connections here. He said he wished he had known about the young kids being here because he would have done a demonstration. I had most of the kids playing a scramble match on the course and said I could round them up. He said to let the kids play for an hour and he'd come back and talk to them."

Duffy said when the youngsters learned they had a prestigious visitor they were pretty excited.

"When it was time for the demonstration, they came running from the course to the driving range. As a matter of fact, almost everyone who was at the course came over to watch," he said. "That Senior British Open is one of the biggest events on that circuit. It draws players from all over the world. Of course, with his local connection, we were all rooting for him that year."

Duffy then commended the pro golfer on the amount of time he spent with the young golfers.

"He gave a half hour talk, covering types of shots, clubs, grip. Then he did some trick shots. We have adults videoing the event on their phones, and you can hear the children yelling 'whoa' after each of his shots. It was just awesome — he was very impressive. And he was all about the kids. He stayed around to pose for pictures and give autographs. Nobody asked him to, he just did this, and he was very sincere.

Page 2 of 2 - "It was just one of those moments where some good luck happened and we were thrilled," Duffy concluded.